The AIF Project

James Arthur EADY

Regimental number1513
Place of birthBallarat East, Victoria
SchoolBallarat State School, Ballarat, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationCollector
Address40 Dytes Parade, Ballarat East, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation18
Height5' 7.5"
Weight125 lbs
Next of kinCaroline Eady, 40 Dytes Parade, Ballarat East, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date24 March 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name23rd Battalion, 1st Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/40/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 8 May 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll23rd Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour Circular"Father one of oldest pioneers. Came from Belfast, Ireland in early forties.)" Details from Mother.
FateKilled in Action 22 August 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Date of death22 August 1916
Age at death17.10
Age at death from cemetery records17
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
98
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Thomas and Caroline EADY, 36 Dykes Parade, Ballarat East, Victoria
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli Campaign), 30 August 1915.

Admitted to No 6 Australian Field Ambulance, Anzac, 9 October 1915 (influenza); discharged to duty, 13 October 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria, ex-Mudros, 19 January 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 26 March 1916.

Found guilty, Wittes, 2 April 1916, of being absent from Tattoo Roll Call: award, admonished.

Wounded in action, 4 August 1916; rejoined unit, 16 August 1916.

Killed in action, 22 August 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, EADY James Arthur

Print format    


© The AIF Project 2024, UNSW Canberra. Not to be reproduced without permission.